“THE TRUTH ABOUT MOLDS

[Guest guest]

" THE TRUTH ABOUT MOLDS? Fungi (Mycotoxins) Can, and Do Cause

Disease! "

R. Haney (Author: " Toxic Mold Toxic Enemy! " )

Copyright© 2007

A January 9, 2007, a front page Wall Street Journal article

titled " Court of Opinion: Amid Suits Over Mold, Experts Wear Two

Hats " authored by Armstrong has rekindled a longstanding battle

over the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine

society's solicitation of a document titled " Adverse Human Health

Effects Associated with Molds in the Indoor Environment " authored by

a former high-ranked government health official. People who have been

suffering from what they say are health issues caused by indoor mold

exposures, and several of the medical doctors who treat them are

upset, indicating that this document, now used as the

ACOEM's " Position Paper " is " seriously flawed. "

In response to the Wall Street Journal article, on January 13,

2007, Tee L. Guidotti, M.D., MPH, current President of the ACOEM

issued the following statement: " What is lost in the WSJ article is

the technical accuracy of the statement. The contentious issue at

hand is not damp spaces or the association of mold and mold spores

with allergic, infectious, or irritating conditions. It is whether

the metabolic products of mold known as mycotoxins, absorbed through

biological particle inhalation in indoor air, is responsible for

systemic human disease under conditions encountered in normal life,

an unproven theory called " toxic mold " in the vernacular. The weight

of evidence to date, despite years of investigation, does not support

that it is and seems unlikely to shift with new findings. "

Unfortunately, Dr. Guidotti fails to comprehend the objective of

the WSJ article. It has little to do with scientific findings, and a

great deal to do with the perceived impression that the ACOEM is, in

effect, using perceivably contrived and distorted facts of " rat

study " on " consensus-based acceptance " and not on sound scientific

research. The ACOEM official position on molds and health is

potentially full of alleged ethics violations, conflicts of interest,

and selective manipulation and promotion of flawed research activity

on a grand scale! This act threatens to destroy ACOEM's integrity,

and gravely harm many victims of such exposures living and working in

unhealthy mold infested and contaminated homes, schools, and office

buildings. For the president of the ACOEM to blatantly offer that the

science is not there to support current medical knowledge, is to

claim absolute ignorance of the facts! The fact is that apparently

the medical community has chosen to ignore the facts that hospital

environments have been treating and recording for nearly 100 years.

In highly " controlled " hospital environments there is enough patient-

monitored and recorded epidemiological evidence to support a literal

landslide of facts that some medically-important micro fungi species

are deadly.

One has to question, where does disease caused by molds normally

occur; in a hospital environment? The answer is " no! " People normally

go to hospitals because molds have gained enough strength chemically

to disrupt and begin decomposing a live cells one or more at a time

after initial exposure in a home, school, or office environment.

Medical doctors then send people to the hospital as a consequence of

diagnosing a disease that has reached a stage to where it needs

special disease control protocol… normally. There are millions more

people living in an uncontrolled fungal infested and contaminated

home, school, office environment than are observed in a hospital

allergen-free " controlled " environment.

Doctors also seem to have trouble referencing the

words " infestations " and " contaminants, " separately. Simply

stated " infestations " represent the growth and binding into colonies

or life-forming groups (e.g., live-celled organisms) for the purpose

of strength, territorial gain, and species survival. Live-cell

species can apply to anything from bees, bacteria, and molds to fish

and humans, among the many life-forms existing on

earth. " Contaminants " are the chemicals that live, dying, or dead

species release as a mechanism for defending their survival, or

defeating their enemies after they have died. However, when people

who are protecting their own interests, or are hired to protect the

interests of others in American enterprise system observe molds, it

is fairly easy to understand why they might want to advertise molds

as " contaminants " instead of live-celled " infestations. " Bacteria are

not recognized as contaminants, and neither are viruses.

Why would it be desirable to classify the Aspergillus, Alternaria,

Stachybotrys, and other live-celled, contaminate mycotoxin-excreting

molds as simply " contaminates, volatile organic compounds (VOC),

airborne particulates? " Let spell it out like this. Molds and

mycotoxins, unlike bacteria and viruses, are massively used in

producing products that keep Americans working and products selling.

Molds and mycotoxins are used in the formulation of thousands of

products for their odors, coloring, and taste (i.e., foods, drinks,

etc.). Molds and their mycotoxins are used in the manufacture of

alcohol, tobacco, and even cleaning and/or bleaching products. Molds

and the mycotoxins they excrete are used in everything from medicines

to natural supplements. In other words, there is a real beneficial

purpose in the American economy for molds and yeasts as opposed to

other competing microbes.

The problem is that molds compete in nature with almost all other

forms of live-celled life, and can remain dormant and live in harmony

until it is time to perform their natural decomposing tasks.

Sometimes, these harmless-appearing ugly microbes found on blocks of

cheese and breads are far more deadly than we as humans, give them

credit for. There is a good reason for the classification

of " opportunists " that medical doctors refer to in identifying molds

and yeasts living within the human body!

Even the infamous 107-yearold Merck Manual commonly used as a

medical reference guide states as to Aspergillus (the most abundant

micro fungi species on planet Earth, found indoors) and

Aspergillosis, a respiratory disease it is specifically recognized as

causing: " Opportunistic infections caused by Aspergillus sp and

inhaled as mold conidia, leading to hyphal growth and invasion of

blood vessels, hemorrhagic necrosis, infarction, and potential

dissemination to other sites in susceptible patients… Aspergillus sp

are among the most common environmental molds, found frequently in

decaying vegetation (compost heaps), on insulating materials (in

walls or ceilings around steel girders, in air conditioning or

heating events, in operating…. " And the list on page 1222 of Chapter

158, Section 13, goes on and on. And according to this same Merck

Manual, 17 Edition, 8 of the 11 diseases presented are directly

related to inhalation! So, either most medical doctors registered as

members of the ACOEM are unable to read, or something is wrong in the

philosophies endorsed by the ACOEM as a " college " of medical

practitioners.

Another question that begs an answer is why was the primary author

of the ACOEM Position Paper, Harding, PhD (a Principal of

Veritox, Inc. (formerly GlobalTox, Inc.) principal author of the

ACOEM Position Paper provided with a free membership in the ACOEM in

2002? Prior to 2002, it is my understanding that all registered

members of the ACOEM had to be medical doctors,

exclusively.

Recalling a recorded statement of Ruth Etzel PhD, M.D., in parting

ways with her prestigious position within the Centers for Disease

Control as one of its most highly-respected medical researchers in

Environmental Medicine, that, " The CDC has sought to bury the

connection between mold and disease… " (Ref. Mark Moran, WebMed

Medical News Interview. July 26th 2000. Titled: " Answers Prove

Elusive in Mold-Linked Deaths " ) is extremely important! Why? Because

Dr. Etzel's statement offers a direct link to one of the

primary " defense experts " of VeriTox, Inc., and ACOEM Position Paper

author Hardin, PhD., who it seems was a high-ranking official

with NIOSH (with direct working connections with the CDC). Along with

Bruce Kelman, PhD, in conjunction with Saxon, M.D., of the

UCLA Medical Center, Dr. Hardin authored the ACOEM's Position Paper.

Dr. Saxon's connection with government is that he receives grants

from federal entities such as the National Institutes of Health,

which the CDC falls under. To think that this activity is simply

going to be put to rest without critical legal analysis is to be

totally oblivious to potential civic and penal ramifications for

dealing with such unorthodox activities.

According to information on the VeriTox, Inc. website (a company

with litigation experts known for their defense antics in providing

expert testimony for the purpose of dissuading juries from accepting

the idea that exposures to indoor molds infestations and contaminants

lead to serious human health problems), Hardin, PhD, FATS, " …

was commissioned into the US Public Health Service and began his

public health career with the National Institute for Occupational

Safety and Health (NIOSH) in 1972, where he served in research,

policy, and management roles, culminating as Deputy Director of NIOSH

and Assistant Surgeon General in the Public Health Service. " To say

that Dr. Hardin does not have intimate connections at high levels of

government including the CDC, would be a gross misstatement. To

believe that many of the medical doctors most influential in

processing the ACOEM position paper do not also have similar

political connections, would perhaps also fail a scrutiny test.

Many Americans who are seriously ill have been putting their faith

in an American medical system that is failing them, and unfortunately

until there is a major change the mindset of the medical community

the American Justice system has to step up to the plate and protect

the health and safety of all its American citizenry.

R. Haney, Maridea EnviroHealth Research & Consulting, Inc.,

_Haney52@...

PLEASE FEEL FREE TO OFFER ANY PHYSICIAN YOU COME IN CONTACT WITH AS A

PATIENT OR KNOW PERSONALLY, A COPY OF THIS IMPORTANT ARTICLE. D. Haney